Home run expectations high for both New York teams

The stands and berm at First Data Field in Port St. Lucie were jam-packed Wednesday for the matchup between the New York Mets and New York Yankees.(Photo: iPhone panorama by Tim Walters/FLORIDA TODAY)Buy Photo

PORT ST. LUCIE – The Mets and Yankees coexisted in New York for 35 years before finally playing each other in an official regular season game in 1997.

Since, the teams have played 112 regular season games, with the Yankees holding an overall lead in the series 66-46. They also had a memorable five-game World Series won by the Bronx Bombers in 2000.

When the two teams met for the first of two spring meetings on Wednesday at First Data Field, the standing room only crowd had a pretty good split of fans wearing the home team orange and blue and fans wearing the away team’s pinstripes.

In the end, the Yankees rallied for 10 runs in the final two innings to defeat the Mets 11-4 in front of an announced crowd of 7,419 people. Capacity is listed at 7,160, but on this day, even the berm was packed.

The Yankees played without their top two bombers – Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge – only playing two projected starters: Brett Gardner and Brandon Drury.

Much of the offseason talk surrounding the Yankees has been about whether their newly-formed dynamic duo – which combined for 111 home runs last year – can recreate the same magic now that they’re on the same team.

But is it far-fetched to think the two players can average 50 home runs again to top the 100-mark?

New York Yankees second baseman Ronald Torreyes (74) greets New York Mets third baseman and former teammate Todd Frazier (21) before their spring training game at First Data Field on Wednesday.(Photo: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports)

Mets slugger Todd Frazier, who played for the Yankees last year with Judge and who has played against Stanton many times, doesn’t think so.

“I’ve seen both take BP and they’re both phenomenal,” Frazier said. “They are power hitters. It wouldn’t surprise me if they hit 125.”

Frazier knows a thing or two about hitting home runs.

He was the 2015 All-Star weekend Home Run Derby Champion. His Mets teammate Yoenis Cespedes is a back-to-back Home Run Derby champ, doing so in 2013 and 2014.

Stanton and Judge won the 2016 and 2017 Home Run Derbies, respectively, so there’s sure to be plenty of pop on both ends of New York this season.

Frazier’s career best for home runs came in 2016, when he hit 40. Cespedes’ career best was 35 in 2015.

While 100 combined home runs might not be expected of Frazier and Cespedes, Frazier believes with teammate Jay Bruce in the mix, the trio could hit 100.

“I think we can if we all stay healthy,” Frazier said. “We’ve all hit 30 or more home runs. I could definitely see us doing that.”

Bruce hit 36 home runs last season. Frazier had 27 and Cespedes had 17, but he only played 81 games. The three tallied 80 homers combined in 2017.

Hitting home runs is hard. There’s no guarantee a player who hit 50 one year will be able to do it again the next.

After all, only 10 players have ever had multiple 50-home run seasons.

Power was on display during Wednesday’s game, but it wasn't the usual suspects: Yankees first baseman Billy McKinney smacked an eighth inning grand slam that gave the Yankees their first lead; Yankees right fielder Trey Amburgey hit a three-run homer in the ninth; and Mets catcher Travis D’Arnaud hit a solo shot in the fourth inning.

Both the Mets and the Yankees have the promise of hitting a lot of long balls.

When asked which team – the Mets or the Yankees – would hit more home runs in 2018, Frazier barely let the question finish before answering: “The Mets, 100 percent, if I had a crystal ball in front of me. But, at the end of the season, that stat doesn’t mean anything if you’re not winning.”

Walters is Sports Editor for FLORIDA TODAY and the Treasure Coast newspapers. He can be reached at twalters@gannett.com